The great powder showdown

Gather App
G

Gabe

Active member
Joined
Sep 18, 2025
Messages
31
Okay, let's settle this once and for all:
  • Varget is the Swiss Army knife of powders, it works in everything from .223 to .308.
  • H4350 owns the 6.5 Creedmoor game
  • IMR 4064 is old-school reliable, especially in .243, .30-06, and .308, though it's a bit more temperature sensitive.
  • Hodgdon Extreme powders cost more but stay consistent when it's freezing or blazing hot outside
What did I miss?
 
Don't forget Reloder 15. I've run it in both .308 and .223 with good results. It's not as stable as Hodgdon Extreme in wild temps, but the accuracy is hard to argue with
 
Gabe said:
Okay, let's settle this once and for all:
  • Varget is the Swiss Army knife of powders, it works in everything from .223 to .308.
  • H4350 owns the 6.5 Creedmoor game
  • IMR 4064 is old-school reliable, especially in .243, .30-06, and .308, though it's a bit more temperature sensitive.
  • Hodgdon Extreme powders cost more but stay consistent when it's freezing or blazing hot outside
What did I miss?
Click to expand...
I'll back you on H4350 for 6.5 Creedmoor, that powder just flat-out owns it. I tried a few others, but I always came back to H4350
 
Robin1 said:
Don't forget Reloder 15. I've run it in both .308 and .223 with good results. It's not as stable as Hodgdon Extreme in wild temps, but the accuracy is hard to argue with
Click to expand...
Good call on RL15, that stuff shoots tight groups for sure. You're right about the temp sensitivity though, I learned that lesson on a cold morning hunt when everything shifted
 
I have to admit that I have not tried StaBall I just checked and the 6.5 version can be loaded in my primary rifles, 270, 6.8 Western and 338 Win Mag. I have been using 760 along with a few IMR powders with great success. I may have to give StaBall a try.
 
Tabby said:
I have to admit that I have not tried StaBall I just checked and the 6.5 version can be loaded in my primary rifles, 270, 6.8 Western and 338 Win Mag. I have been using 760 along with a few IMR powders with great success. I may have to give StaBall a try.
Click to expand...
Man, try it! It works great in my rifles, accurate and great velocities. Burn rate right around h4350, h100v but at a better price
 
I've had good luck with both H4350 and IMR4350 primarily in my 30-06 when I had one. I also took a look at the data for Ramshot Grand, it doesn't look too shabby either. I'm primarily an accuracy shooter so it will be interesting to compare the two against W760 when the weather warms up and the snow isn't a foot deep on the range.
 
critterpicker said:
I started using it in 7-08 was surprised by the results. Gained velocity and accuracy. I prefer accuracy over velocity, but I got both.
Click to expand...
This is interesting as I was working on a newly Purchased Winchester FW in 7mm-08 this past summer for this years hunt. I am a big IMR4350 fan and have used it since the beginning, now spanning close to 48 years. I am an experimenter have quite a few different powders on hand to try. But, I am not opposed to buying and trying more. I have been soured lately on "New" powder introductions, having gone the route with IMR4451 and those types only to find they were just that a flash in the pan. But Seeing as how Staball6.5 is has been touted highly I thought Id give it a go. I also never bought or used Hodgdons 4350 so bought that for the 1st time also.
Utilizing the Norma Oryx 156gr bullet I found that H4350 gave 156fps more velocity, with with less but still acceptable accuracy. Now SD was another natter all together. 10 shot average were higher with H4350, 42 to 4 with the staball6.5. I have found this constancy in shot to shot with staball 6.5 in my son's 30-06 also. I also agree with you on accuracy over velocity.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top